1950s Coro Enameled White Carnation Brooch With Turquoise-Colored Beads & Rhinestone

This is part of Chairish’s Costume Jewelry assortment.

Just in time for Mother’s Day! A Cohn & Rosenberger (Coro) white enameled carnation brooch, with turquoise-colored beads & rhinestones, ca. 1954.

Coro was, by far, the largest manufacturer of costume jewelry. “Coro is King” was the saying used by both department store buyers and even rival company reps. In 1902, Emanuel (Manny) Cohn, an importer and salesman of costume jewelry with an existing company called E. Cohn & Company, and sales agent Carl Rosenberger merged to form the new company of Cohn and Rosenberger. Although Cohn died in 1910, his name remained a part of their moniker. In 1943, the corporate name Coro was officially adopted. Originally manufactured in New York, Cohn & Rosenberger established their first factory in Providence, Rhode Island in 1910. Coro was so successful that they offered public issues of common stock in 1929 and 1945. The 1929 stock issue was used to build the largest manufacturing plant, at that time, in the costume jewelry business. Although the plant initially stood empty, it positioned Coro for the great demand for costume jewelry in the latter part of the1930s and for the 1940s wartime production needs. The 1945 stock offering was used to enlarge the plant further, for which the company’s foresight benefited with the boom of post-war consumerism. Coro became worldwide with branches and factories in Toronto, Canada (1920s), London, England (1927), and Taxco, Mexico (1942). Stateside, sales and stock storage offices were in established in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Dallas, and Atlanta. Coro produced jewelry that sold both higher-end (Corocraft & Vendome lines) and lower priced jewelry. By 1946, Coro produced 16 percent of all costume jewelry made in the United States. In 1957, Carl Rosenberger died at the age of 85. His son Gerald Rosenberger succeeded him as president, but died suddenly of a heart attack in January 1967. The decline of Coro had already begun when Executive Vice President Royal Marcher retired in 1960. In 1969, the conglomerate Richton International Corp., headed by Franc M. Ricciardi, bought 51 percent of Coro’s stock and then bought the remaining shares in 1970. Richton once owned the Oscar de la Renta brand. By 1979, Richton closed Coro’s U.S. facilities and declared chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 1980.

Source: Mid-Century Plastic Jewelry, Schiffer Books, 2005.